Dark And Unjaded

C11

Casey ducked and weaved through the ferns and trees through the Otway ranges in his panther form behind his sons, Sam and Benj. It was always a rush to hunt down the feral demons that would lurk in their region. They had chased this group of three demons that looked like a bald yeti cross werewolf from the underworld, from the state border of South Australia across to the Otway Park in Lower Victoria. It appeared as though they were heading to the hidden orb that opened up a gate to the underworld realms, off the coast. Not on his watch.

The late afternoon sunset sent off pink and golden hues around the bush and the sun light flickered through the trees like a strobe light as he ran.

Casey kept a short distance behind the twins in front of him, letting them have a shot at the demons. Practice made perfect and he was hoping these kind of outings would hone his boys skills further.
Casey's lifelong friend Tye was high up above the tall trees in his crow form, keeping a, well, a birds eye veiw on the hunt. The Crow shifter was a very rare species, Tye was possibly the last Australian Crow shifter. His familiar calls in his shifter caw, assisting the Panthera below with the directions the demons ran in.

Pride lanced through Casey as he witnessed Sam pounce on the back of a demon, his sharp extended claws piercing its shoulder and kidney zone. Casey leaped past the carnal slaughtering his son inflicted. He caught up to Benj who was darting in all directions as the demon in his sights serpentined through the foliage. Benj snarled, impatience getting the better of him so Casey blocked the demons left option, forcing it to venture into Benj's striking range. Benj was brutal in his attack his teeth latching on flesh and tearing chucks from the withering demon under him.

Two down, one to go.
The salt in the air grew thicker indicating that they were close to the beach. Close to the hidden orb. Casey ran harder, his breath racking through his sharp teeth, his paws barely touching the ground. He was almost upon the remaining demon when a ear drum erupting crack bellowed from the sky, followed by a deep purple flash of light. The sky darkened ominously.

Casey's head reeled up towards the sky, his steps faltering as he watched a stream of purple light with a dark blue fire ball fall from way above. Tye crowed excessively.
'Yeh I see it,' Casey thought. He doubled his speed and focused on the demon who was distracted by the fireball too and latched on to his arm,with an aggressive twist of his head he dragged the demon to the ground.

The demon's thick skin burned his tongue as he sank his sharp teeth in to a meaty neck, piercing the jugular. Black blood flooded his throat and he closed it off to avoid taking in too much of the vile stuff. He didn't mess around with his attack, under him his victims fight was leaving him as rapidly as his blood from the leak. Casey released the hold on the neck and pushed his paws down hard to pin the demon down, he let the shifter magic pour over him as he change into the man.

Using his hands he snapped the demons neck and pierced the heart with his father's hardened igneous knife. The only material other than ramie able to withstand the changes during shifting. All other materials what tear or simply drop to the ground during the shape shifting transformation. The chipped battle dagger was handed down from alpha to alpha for thousands of years, the story behind it was that the hell King Zagan had given it to the Panthera people to defend themselves and protect the seven orbs that spread out around the world. It worked wonders, rendering the enemy to dust. A fast death.

Tye cawed out from somewhere to his right just before the fireball hit the forest floor a good couple of kilometres away. The impact was like a deep, bass sonic boom, shaking the trees around him and frightening the wildlife. Birds flew in clusters in all directions and Casey could sense kangaroos and wallabies scatter all around. Sam and Benj leaped from the bushes behind him and then they shifted back to their human form as they approached him.